U-boat captain's age

He is far far too old to be a captain of a WW 2 U boat. Most captains were mid 20's to early 30's. The Germans, and also the Americans, discovered that sub commanders needed to be younger and a bit more daring, reckless, than a middle aged captain would be. The Americans started the war with all sub commanders being older and quickly realized that they were not productive. Das Boot had the ages of a U boat crew down pretty accurately.